Hold On To Me
by KnowDrumsGotLife
Summary: Two friends, Sadie and Zander, literally step into Middle Earth, with no idea of where they are or how to survive. And they are warned that their only escape will come from them finding out the truth about each other... whatever that may mean. NO TENTH/ ELEVENTH WALKERS NO AWKWARD MARY-SUES (or any Mary-Sues for that matter) Rated K-plus just because and just in case.
1. Getting Coffee

**Hi Everyone!**

**I'm really excited to be writing my first full-fledged published fanfic. I'm going to try my very hardest to avoid formulaic plot points for the sake of you, my dear readers.**

**Reviews are HIGHLY appreciated. I say I'm a good writer, but I'm really not, so feedback would be nice!**

**I am VERRRRRRRYYY busy with indoor drumline right now so uploads will either be very clumped together or very sparse. I am also very prone to cases of extreme writer's block, so please bear with me. I am also a poor speller- word of warning. **

**Alright alright alright. We're gonna get this party started!**

**D/C: Tolkien owns Middle-Earth and all off its residents. I own Sadie, Zander, and any other non- canon characters that I choose to later input.**

My brush dips into smooth paint, caressing the canvas with a streak of brilliant red. Spring green soon follows, blending with the red to form a deep brown.

I am about to drown my brush in color once more when I hear a soft sound. A footstep outside the door. Then the creak of the door opening. I whirl around. "Zander!" I exclaim, shocked. "What are you doing here?" _Shouldn't you be spending some quality time with your girlfriend or something? _I add in my head.

"Well, I figured I would come see what you are doing, as my girlfriend has practice today and I have to drive her home."

_Figures._

Then I meet Zander's eyes as he stares at my half-blank canvas. The walls of the art room seem to crush in around me. His coffee brown gaze melts my impertinent mood. "And I was wondering if you wanted to go get some coffee or something with me while I waited for her," Zander adds.

"Ummm..."

"Sadie, you don't have to. I just thought I might check. If you're busy with this painting, I totally get that."

"No, I'll go," I say firmly. I gently drop my brushes into a glass of water and remove my smock, hanging it on the easel.

"Don't you need to cover your paints?" Zander tugs on one of his hoodie strings.

"Well, presumably, we should be back soon. Therefore, I have no need to worry about my paints. Oil paint takes longer to dry anyway."

Zander appears put out, but manages a smile. He has known me for nearly eight years and it surprises me that he still gets annoyed with my blunt, orderly personality. "Shall we?" he queries, raising an eyebrow.

I nod. He is amazing in every way possible. Smooth golden-brown hair that brushes the tops of his ears and is swept across his forehead, a friendly smile, glorious eyes, and an overall pleasant and good-humored demeanor. I loved him from the day we met all the way back in the third grade. However, he has never loved me in return. I should count myself lucky that he is still my friend, yet I often wish for more than that.

He holds the door open for me as I step out, and closes it behind us with barely a sound. "So," he says, "What's been going on in the Wonderful World of Sadie? We haven't talked in so long."

I blink. "I have taken my paintings to a few prestigious art shows, and the judges recommend that I send them to a gallery. So I have one of my landscapes for sale in an art gallery downtown. I figured that I may as well use my work to brighten someone else's day and not always my own."

"Cool." Zander stares at me, as if waiting for more of my life's story.

"And..." I struggle. "And I, um, started reading a lot more. I read some of those book that you told me about last year." _When last we talked. _I scowl mentally, but allow my face to remain placid.

"What about your dirt bike?" Zander asks.

"I ride it from time to time. I took it out to the old course we made at the farm over the weekend."

"The old course is still out there?"

"Yeah." I sigh. "The hills are a little eroded and the ramps are kind of getting weather-beaten and rickety. But the course has retained its potential for undying fun."

"That's pretty great. Maybe I'll come out one of these days with you, like old times, you know."

"Like old times..." I repeat his words slowly, allowing them to sink in, and the memories come on full-force, like a flood.

Both of us burst out laughing as we push open the back door of the school, the secret door that only the teachers and the teachers' kids know about. Luckily, my mother is the art teacher.

But when Zander and I slip outside, the landscape is unfamiliar. The door clicks shut behind us. "Sadie, what part of campus is this?"

"I don't know." We are standing amid immense golden trees, trees like I have never seen anywhere on our campus, let alone anywhere else. In many of the trees there are smooth platforms, some that are screened in, some with small roofs, and some that are flat and open-air. _This is one weird-looking place._ "Let's go back in and just use the front exit. We turn, but the doors and the entire high school campus seem to have vanished into thin air.

There are just more of the golden trees.

"WHAT?" I explode. "WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS?"

"Should have covered those paints up." Zander smirks. Then suddenly his face falls. "Chloe..." he whispers. "What about her?"

_His girlfriend. Of course that's the first thing he misses. Not his parents. Not his precious little twin brothers. No. His girlfirend that he has had for precisely three-and-a-half weeks, _I vent.

"First things first, we need to find a way back," I announce. "Sentiments are for later, _after _all hope of return is lost. And, currently, I have hope."

_"There is no way back." _A musical whisper of a voice fills my mind.

I stand rigid. "Zander, did you hear that?"

He nods, dumbfounded.

"_There is no way back _until _you find out the truth about each other and embrace it. In your own world, the both of you were hiding from it. Now you have no choice, unless you never want to return home from this world."_

I give a cry. Zander's eyes go wide. "There's no turning back now," he says softly. I nod sharply and, driven by some outside compulsion, begin to walk off into the endless golden trees of this endless wood.

**Wow, I'm really sorry for this boring first chapter! It will get better I promise. Not much M.E. stuff in here yet- let's just call this an introduction.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Into the Woods

**I'm back. Indoor drumline has me busy beyond busy- we have a competition on Saturday. Go Rock Drums!**

**Anyways, after much mental debate, I have decided to post another chapter for "Hold On To Me."**

**D/C: Sadie, Zander, and any other individuals that I make up are mine. The rest is from the gifted mind of J.R.R. Tolkien.**

**So, without further ado, Chapter Two!**

Zander and I walked side-by-side through the endless, endless trees. Their golden branches arched over our heads as the light of day faded into a gentle sunset. Soft light reached its fingertips around the tree trunks.

The grass below our feet was green beyond description, and even the dirt seemed more alive than anything that I had ever seen. The more night began to cover the woods with its cloak, the more I wanted to reach for Zander's strong hand and hold it tightly.

_You are nearly here. You will find refuge in my halls. Follow the lights ahead, and everything will become clear. _The mysterious, lyrical voice from earlier in the afternoon filled my head once more.

"Did you hear that, Zander? We're almost to somewhere safe!" I exclaim.

"Or somewhere pretending to be safe that turns out to be a trap," Zander said somberly.

"Anything has to be better than roaming these woods after nightfall." I paused. "Look, there's the lights!" Sure enough, gleaming torchlight was within view and was growing ever closer.

After fifteen minutes, give or take, a city began to materialize around us. Almost like it was coming out of thin air. It was a city that is half in the trees and half on the ground. The platforms and buildings above our heads were of a smooth grey wood.

Then something spectacular appeared, a pearly, white castle that began on the earth and climbed high into two of the largest, tallest trees that Zander and I had yet seen.

"Sadie, I think this is the place that we are supposed to go." His tone was monotonous, as if he was hypnotized by the flickering torchlight.

"I agree."

_You are permitted to enter, _the musical voice said. Then there was a rush of air surrounding us that lifted us off our feet. There was a moment of darkness, and then, we were inside the castle.

**REVIEW!**


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